Sadie Fournier: Frankfort selectmen sold out

Protect our townspeople

The Frankfort selectmen’s actions should be another red flag for our town and other towns in Maine in regard to companies such as Eolian. Their goal is to sell us their product and ensure their profit. Eolian is highly motivated to conduct their research. It is a race for time against any potential future restrictions voted in by the town.

Our selectmen sold out. Eolian CEO Jack Kenworthy reports the actions and wishes of the people are unlawful and unconstitutional. Eolian is saying they are intending to work in a “collaborative and transparent way with the town.” They have an odd definition of these terms.

They essentially have to say they are working collaboratively with us. Surely they won’t say “we stand to profit hugely off your town and our intention is implement our plan regardless of your health, property values and rural life.”

Raising questions about large, industrial wind companies isn’t anti-wind. We should be interested in the growing concerns across the nation and abroad that suggest significant problems with these companies. Getting our information from the salesman is risky. Any business that can negatively impact the investments and health of others should not be allowed to have an open-door policy. We need to view the cost and benefits just like they do.

Frankfort residents stand up and protect all of our townspeople and landowners. Selectman, I have lost faith in your ability to represent us and to treat this situation without bias.

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Why is it that we so often hear that town selectmen are avidly proposing wind farm development in their towns, yet residents are opposed? And the selectmen (though often not all of them) continue to push for wind development despite all the good reasons to not do this to their town and townsfolk. Could it be that the wind industry, early on in the process, identifies certain selectmen as champions of their agenda who would work hard to push this stuff through with behind-the-scenes offers of payoffs of some sort if the selectmen are successful in getting the approval of the town? Something's awfully fishy here... There are a lot of people who will listen to the sales pitch of free energy and saving th world from global warming, and all that stuff, without thinking any of the stuff through. But the wind industry knows it needs local champions to make this case rather than city-slickers from away. So what's the deal? In our town, the planning board agreed to completely throw out our noise ordinance just prior to the town approving the wind farm and before the development application to the DEP, and doing this without being open enough about it for nearby neighbors to know about it and understand what was going on. Why is that? Is this happening in your town or in a town near you? Hmmm... Better check into it, otherwise you're in for big, and expensive problems. Vinalhaven now pays more than double what we could pay for electricity if we simply bought it from the wholesale market instead of using the turbines. Bad news... Bad noise... Bad decisions.

Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law

Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future

"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."

Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT

******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********

(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/

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